Dylan feared obessive fans

Legendary singer Bob Dylan was so fearful of obsessive fans during his heyday in the 1960s he kept firearms at home to defend himself and his family.

The Mr Tambourine Man star felt so besieged by his followers - during a decade marked by the high-profile assassinations of John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King - he stored three guns including a Colt pistol and a Winchester rifle at his Woodstock home in upstate New York.

Dylan says that "unaccountable-looking characters, gargoyle-looking gals, scarecrows, stragglers looking to party and raid the pantry" would turn up at his doorstep.

He continues: "I wanted to set fire to these people. Road maps to our homestead must have been posted in all 50 states for gangs of drop-outs and druggies."